Persons who are bed-ridden are subjected to disease due to inactivity and lying in a supine position for prolonged intervals. Caregivers are required to alleviate this problem by repositioning patients on their sides and stomach part of the time as many patients are unable to turn over by themselves.
Devices which facilitate repositioning patients are disclosed in prior patents. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,329 describes a device comprising a bed or similar device which includes a loop of flexible material wide enough to hold the supine patient. The loop of material is driveable in the loop direction so that the patient moves in the loop direction. This device is quite bulky and will be in a caregivers way during routine treatment of the patient. It also induces a considerable amount of compression on the patient when in use. An attendant is required for its use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,536,903 describes a fabric device including hand grip means extending laterally outward from each side. Either hand grip means is disposed over the torso of the patient and an attendant pulls to turn the patient then latches it to a handrail to hold him or her in place. This is a nonpowered device that requires an attendant for every change of the patients position. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,053 a slip device of fabric aids in the turning over process, it also is nonpowered, and requires an attendant for turning over the patient.
Other patents disclose relatively complex devices which are useful in manipulating immobile persons. Many are expensive and space consuming. Some require so much of a caregiver's time for setting up and sanitizing they are not practical. Thus the age old tradition of turning over a patient every two hours by hand prevails and decubitus management for the immobile patient remains a serious problem.